City council this week approved the first step toward much-needed repairs to the Memorial Centre.

Council on Tuesday ratified the recommendation of its finance, administration and operations committee to enter into an agreement with I.B. Storey Inc. to complete an engineering assessment of the replacement and upgrade of the Memorial Centre refrigeration system, at a cost of $14,500.

The assessment would pave the way for the actual replacement, which is included in next year’s capital projects list at an estimated cost of $450,000.

The decision comes after John Francis, chairman of the city’s arena advisory committee, last week urged the city not to forget the Memorial Centre as it seeks to build a new sports facility on the west-end site of the former Phillips Cables plant.

Francis reminded councillors that two of the Memorial Centre ice plant’s three compressors had to be replaced over the past three years, as well as one condenser.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, councillors approved the rezoning of the old Phillips site to allow both the future sports complex, currently envisioned as a twin-pad arena, and a new public school.